Loving...

I am loving this website:

beingmomis.blogspot.com

These kind of blogs make me happy.

And if that doesn't tickle your mothering-fancy, maybe this quote will...

The First Presidency has said: “Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind” (in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency, 6 vols., Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–75, 6:178). The priesthood cannot work out its destiny, nor can God’s purposes be fulfilled, without our helpmates. Mothers perform a labor the priesthood cannot do. For this gift of life, the priesthood should have love unbounded for the mothers of their children. - Being a Righteous Husband and Father, President Howard W. Hunter.



I am also loving Sloanie's chubby cheeks. I love how they almost exactly resemble Baby Aunt Twitch's cheeks.



And, I also love the pictures I find on my phone after Holynd has ran away with it.

I am also loving a big yellow purse that -JUST- got put in my cart on zappos.com.

For G-Ma...

G-Ma was a tiny-bit unhappy with my last post. She made a subtle comment that maybe I should post some pictures of Sloanie sans the "stone-faced look". So, these pictures are for G-Ma. My "Smiley-Sloanie".

Even though her shyness is often her go-to emotion, once the barrier comes down, she's one of the happiest babies in the world. I love her so.

Holynd and I made cookies for dad because his truck, it broke. (HAHAHA! Didn't think I'd get that inside joke on the blog did ya husband?!)

Holynd is a tiny bit of a control freak when it comes to what she eats. If I can get her to help out when cooking, she'll usually eat what she "made". Otherwise, it's a fight to get her to eat anything besides chicken nuggets, peas or yogurt.

Cookie making started out a little rough. When I turned around to preheat the oven, Holynd dumped 1/4 a box of baking soda in the mixing bowl. Luckily, the error was caught before we added anymore ingredients.

She was really excited to sit on the counter and get to dip her fingers into the jar of peanut butter, while cooking. Who doesn't like plain peanut butter while cooking?!

Holynd loved rolling the balls of dough up and then squashing the dough with a fork. She got a little crazy during this process and this was also the point I noticed that there wasn't nearly enough flour in the dough.

In order to fix the flour issue, I turned on the tv and let Holynd get all of the toys out. Basically, she was given free reign to trash the living room (more then usual).

The cookies turned out fine. They were a little flimsy because I never got the flour quite right. But, dad went for a cookie as soon as he walked through the door. :)

Giggles

Right now my girls are in Holynd's crib. They've been giggling uncontrollably for 15 minutes. They love each other so much.

As days goes by, they seem to need each other more and more. Sloane gets excited as soon as she hears Holynd's voice. Holynd wants to be the first person to greet Sloane when she wakes up.

I've been having anxiety lately. Mainly because of the p-word.... Potty-training. We finally had a tiny success last night. Holynd peed in her potty for the first time. It took three hours of non-stop supervision, with me asking if she had to pee every minute. We sat in their room, pumping Holynd full of fluids with the Princess Potty in the doorway. We downloaded apps to keep her on the potty while we waited for the moment. After two accidents on the floor and one accident in her playhouse we were finally successful and Holynd got an entire KitKat to herself. It was pretty traumatizing for both of us and today I have no desire to try again. So, basically, all that work was in vain and I'm pretty content on waiting another month before making another attempt.

I'd really like her to be potty-trained before the summer, but you never get what you want right? Holynd is just such a busy kid, the last thing she wants to do is sit and go to the potty. And, I don't know what the universe has against me right now, but Sloane always seems to want to nurse when Holynd asks to go to the potty. Then I'm faced with the moral dillema of making one child starve while teaching the other, or not teaching one while feeding the other... It's driving me crazy.

Not to mention the fact that, I'm sure you all noticed, that Holynd still has her binkie... That's a whole other story!

I'm pretty sure all my parental issues come down to one important fact: I'm a wuss.

There. I said it.

Chunks.

I have a few stories to tell, as well as an update on Sloanie's stats from her six month appointment. (Oh, how different my babies are!)

Holynd's big-girl bed came to my door last week. Matt quickly put it together and Holynd immediately loved it. She jumped on it, got excited when she realized it was going in her room and then, finally, fell asleep in it.

I lost it. I bawled. I couldn't believe it! How dare she!? First, she decides to try and potty-train and now this! Sleeping in a toddler bed.



I went to bed that night distraught. To me, Holynd was still a baby. I guess, to be honest, I still carry a little bit of guilt over the sibling thing. Would Holynd have grown up as fast if Sloanie had been a little more patient? That night, I was awoken by a tiny voice, "Mommy awake?" I sat up and saw my little Holl-e-wood standing next to our bed. I asked her what was wrong and she just smiled. I reached over and helped her climb into our bed. In my mind, I knew I was breaking every parenting-rule in the book. I knew she would make this a habit if I let her into our bed. But, OH HOW I NEEDED THAT! We snoozed for about an hour and finally she grew restless and Matt carried her to her room. She then requested to be put down in her crib. Now that the beds newness has worn off, she's struggling a little with the transition and I like to think that she's just giving me a little bit more time to adjust. :)

I do have pictures pertaining to one Christmas story. A little background first. 99 percent of the time, I pick out my own presents. I hate surprises. I hate the teasing, the mystery, I HATE IT! So, when Matt came home with a surprise present, I wasn't extremely thrilled. After he had wrapped the present, I immediately started shaking it and taking guesses at what it was. It was a big box with lots of different shapes in it. It didn't take me long to figure out that it was lotions and body washes from BBW. Matt admitted defeat at trying to surprise me and nothing more was said. Christmas morning rolled around and I opened my "surprise". But lo and behold, there was a mysterious little box in the middle of the big box. For a split-second I thought, UGH BATH SALTS! I HATE BATHS! But a semi-familiar jewelry store name was on the top. I gasped! WHAT IS THIS?!!??! Matt was beaming. I had mentioned once, maybe twice in our marriage about wanting a band for my wedding ring. Well, this Christmas my husband delivered.



I beautiful band to go with my wedding ring. I love it. For those of you who don't know, I didn't pick out my wedding ring. The only thing I really told Matt was, diamond solitaire, nothing tacky. I've always loved my ring because Matt picked it out entirely by himself and now my entire wedding set was put together by him. :)

And last, but not least, oh Sloanie... My little chunks.


Sloanie has taken a liking to sitting up by herself lately. She's also eating (and loving!) baby food. Well, she loves orange baby food-Squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches.... She does NOT love green baby food. She's also been sleeping through the night, which has been a welcomed treat for her dad and I. At her doctor's appointment yesterday, Sloanie was praised for growing like crazy and totally showing her older sister up. (We're keeping our fingers crossed that Holynd is still on the charts at her 2 year check-up.) Sloanie, however, is getting cozy in the very top percentiles in all categories.

They may look alike, but they are COMPLETELY different.

In semi-weirdness news, Holynd is all the sudden talking about herself in third-person. Yeah, she's become one of THOSE people. Today she told me, "Mommy, Sloanie take Holynd's baby. Tell her, No, no, Sloanie!" and then later that day, "Mommy, Holynd not wantie soup. Holynd wantie yogurt".

I am in love...

Today, I am in love. I am in love with CJane's January 5th Guest Post. (I am in love with Matt too. But you all already knew that.) You must read it. This woman put all my feelings into words. It's am amazing post. It must be read!

Bear with me while I put my "economic" two-cents worth of lecturing on this subject. Diet/worktout programs that are often known as "fad" programs run business models. These business models mimick the exact models that ALL businesses use. They want you to use the product and KEEP USING the product. How do they get you to keep using the program? By making you keep thinking that you NEED TO BE BETTER, THAT YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO LOOK/BE GOOD ENOUGH.

This is part of my New Year's Resolution this year. Respect your body. If you are involved in a program that acknowledges that you are HUMAN, that you will never LOOK THE WAY SOCIETY WANTS YOU TO, but encourages living a healthier lifestyle-GOOD FOR YOU! If you are involved in a program that keeps telling you that you don't look the way you should, that you should loose more, exercise more, eat even less, WALK AWAY! You're more likely to make good healthy decision when you're NOT constantly being told that you're inadequate. Be healthy, don't be beaten down. Our nutritional decisions shouldn't be weighed with guilt. Make conscious decisions! Ex: Will I feel energized and satisifed after I eat that, not, How will I be judged if I eat this?

Everyone should love their bodies.

When I was in high school, I loved the way I looked. But unfortunately, that body couldn't sustain a pregnancy, couldn't nurse a baby, couldn't survive on a mommy's inconsistent diet, didn't have hips wide enough to carry a child for hours on end... That's why it changed. I'm happy with the changes.